First Time in the US: Sekt from Peter Lauer...Plus 2010s!
9/28/11 -
The reputation of Florian Lauer, proprietor of Weingut Peter Lauer in the Saar, has soared over the past few years. This is a mixed blessing for those of us that love the wines, as we're happy to see him achieve such great success, but it's getting harder and harder to get our hands on the wines. In fact, this year we've received more requests for his 2010s than those of any other German producer, with good reason: the wines are simply incredible. They're honest, vivid expressions of this atypical vintage, and the high-acid, high-extract characteristics of the year gel perfectly with Lauer's precise, nervy style.
As great as these 2010s are, the most exciting part of this offer is a wine that has just been imported to the US for the first time, the non-vintage Lauer Riesling Brut. Not only is it exciting to see a sparkling wine from Florian Lauer, it also happens to be one of the best Sekts we've ever tasted. It's not a well-known fact among American wine lovers, but the Saar has a long tradition of Sekt production, dating back at least to the mid-nineteenth century. Base wines for cremants or Sekts need to have plenty of acid (it's no accident that Champagne is one of the northernmost regions of wine production in France), and wines from the Saar have it in spades.
The first Sekt at this estate was produced in the mid-twentieth century by Florian's grandfather, Peter Lauer Senior (yes, the same gentleman for whom Fass 6, listed below, is named). This specific bottling is comprised of all 2009 fruit, with 80% coming from the Ayler Kupp and 20% from the Ayler Scheidterberg. It avoids the common pitfalls of Sekt in that it is neither painfully austere nor overtly sweet. It's intensely mineral and beautifully balanced with just 10 grams of residual sugar. To put this into perspective, a still wine must have fewer than 9 grams per liter to be designated as "Trocken" and for a Champagne to be labeled as "Brut" it must have fewer than 13. As you can probably predict, the wine is by no means sweet, nor is it lacking in creamy, textured fruit. Most importantly, the gray slate terroir of Ayl sings through and the wine tastes unmistakably like Lauer, which to Florian's growing legion of fans should be the ultimate compliment.
Also on offer are some select 2010s. As we've written elsewhere, the wines are stellar, not de-acidified or messed with in the cellar, and then will keep for the long haul. It's important to note that Lauer (like many of our favorite growers) ferments exclusively with indigenous/spontaneous yeasts. With Riesling this can often lead to a uniquely savory character for which the shorthand term sponti is used. -jfr
